General Course of Proceeding.
To start about noon of Tuesday.
I propose to commence operations about two hours before high water, or about noon, and to endeavour to get the ship down as quickly as I can into the water, and down to within about 36 feet of the bottom of the ways.
My object in starting at this particular time of tide would be to get the ship into the water, and waterborne to some extent as soon as I could.
Stop short of end of ways.
I propose to stop short of the end, in order to avoid the necessity of having to knock away all the shores, and clear the cradle at the evening tide, when it would be dark, and to float on the morning tide, when it would be also dark.
I should propose then to stop about 36 feet short of the end.[162]
Evening. Clear away shores of the 20-feet cradles.
At low water, although dark, I shall endeavour to knock away the shores of the 20-feet cradles, or as many of them as possible, and clear all from these cradles except the unbolting of the filling-pieces.
Under favourable circumstances clear away also all the shores on the port side.